Memorial Day Weekend V - Rock Spring Baptist Church

We are going to skip over Eakly Cemetery in the day's chronicles.  I have covered it before and probably will again!
On the way to Eakly I spotted a historical marker on the east side of the road and made a point to catch it on the way back towards Anadarko.  It is up off the road on a hill and partially obscured by grass and other growth.

The marker reads:

ROCK SPRING BAPTIST CHURCH

1/4 Mile East

First Baptist Church

Among Oklahoma Plains Indians

ORGANIZED 1874 BY REV. JOHN McINTOSH.

CREEK INDIAN.  FIRST KNOWN BAPTIST

MISSIONARY TO THESE TRIBES.

First Trip summer 1874 under auspices of

CREEK BAPTIST ASSN.

Sermon text John 3:16.  Black Beaver. Interpreter

"This is the Word from the Great Spirit Above

to all His children" -- McIntosh

Naturally we went on down the road trying to locate any remnants of said church.  We couldn't find a darn thing visible from the road that looked like it was or used to be a church, but we did see a cemetery on the south side of the road and decided that probably used to go with the church.  I should have gotten pictures!  When I got home I did some research on Find A Grave and sure enough there is a Rock Springs Cemetery outside of Gracemont.  Pretty sure it is the one we passed.  I will just have to hit it up another time!


The funny thing is that I have read a few things online that suggest that there is still a Rock Springs Baptist Church (yes, Rock Springs, not Rock Spring as on the marker, but it appears to be the same).  I will have to research that more I suppose.

Memorial Day Weekend IV - Riverside School

After leaving Memory Lane Cemetery and having our traditional pit stop in Anadarko, we head out of town on some highway or other.  I would look it up, but what's the point?  I always forget!  Getting to Eakly is just one of those things that I have known how to do my whole life.  I don't know the darn names of the highways!  :-)


So we head out of town.  Before we get very far, a historical marker appears on the right.  It is in sad shape, but still plenty readable:

The marker says:
Riverside School
Begun by U.S. Quaker Agents, 1871


This school opened at the Indian agency on Sugar Creek with 8 pupils.  A new building was erected as a boarding school in 1872, for Wichita and Caddo children.  Fire in 1878 destroyed the school.  It soon reopened in a new building here on the Washita and continues as the oldest boarding school in the United states Indian service.
Oklahoma Historical Society and State Highway Commission 1970


I am aware that the Riverside Indian School is still around but I had forgotten that it was a boarding school.  That is something you think of more in Europe and Yankee territory!  :-)  And beyond that, there are about 800 students there?!  I had no idea it was that large!!  Peruse the school website some.  There are some interesting things there, the most interesting of which may just be where Anadarko got its name.  Apparently it is derived from an old Caddo word meaning 'a place of the bumblebees.'

Oklahoma Heritage Plaza

Friday, May 25, 2012.
I get off work decently early.  Becky and I hatched a plan the night before to meet up in Norman and high-tail it to Oklahoma City to the State Fair Park for the EGI Gem, Jewelry & Bead Show.
  
The show ends at 6:00 p.m. per the e-mail Rabicca had received.  We swing into the fairgrounds going on 5:15 p.m. and it looks pretty desolate.  No signs bespeaking a bead show.  I'm creeping along the grounds in the car.  I can't help it.  I am not used to going to the fairgrounds except during the Great State Fair of Oklahoma (Yes, I called it by its full name.  Doesn't it sound grand that way?  :-) ) and during the fair you are ushered unceremoniously to a 'parking spot' some ways off that you pay a fortune for.  Never have I personally driven inside the fairgrounds.  Eventually we come across a building with a couple of cars outside.  Skeptical that we have reached our destination but wanting to get information from someone in the know prior to giving up after working so hard to get there, we disembark the vehicle and peek inside.  There are just a few people setting up booths on the far side of the building.  Deciding to go ahead and go in there like a couple of lost tourists, we spot a woman walking around the corner.  She informs us that they are setting up for the gun show and nothing else is currently shaking at the fairgrounds.


Discouraged but not quite ready to give up we get back in the car and continue driving around some - still feeling like someone is going to jump out at us any minute telling us we aren't allowed to drive there!  Then around a corner there are cars!  We get closer and there is a sign!  The only sign - right outside the building it is in.  Somebody did a poor job of promoting the show.  Nevertheless, we are here!  In we run and frantically spend too much money on beads until it is time to leave so they can close up.


The point of this post, however, is not the bead show.  It is what we saw when we left.  We were walking to the car and plotting just where we were going to go to use some facilities when to the left I spotted large granite monuments.  It was the 'Oklahoma Heritage Plaza.'  The monuments list everyone inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and even include etched portraits of a select few.  Becky was not terribly amused with the detour given that she also had a need for certain facilities, but I assured her I wasn't going to take a picture of each monument - there are too many.  We quickly walked the path trying to find the most interesting ones.

This is the main stone telling about the plaza.  Not surprisingly, the two inductees on it are Will Rogers and Jim Thorpe.  It is interesting that both of them died 3 years after being inducted.  Hhmmm... could this be Oklahoma's version of the Madden Curse?  Well, probably not.  There are plenty of peeps that are still alive and well that have been inducted.  :-)


The actual Oklahoma Hall of Fame Gallery is housed at the Gaylord-Pickens Museum along with MANY other things.  Definitely looks like a worthwhile destination.  In the meantime, one can find out some interesting things about the Oklahoma Hall of Fame on their website.  


First off, there are 6 inductees that are listed from Chickasha.  I got pictures of monuments that include 2 from Chickasha including Anna Lewis who was inducted in 1940.

The most rockin'ly awesome thing about that?!  That I didn't even realize until I started on this post today?!  I published the post about Fred earlier and there was a link to an article a professor at OCW had written in 1934.  Yep, you guessed it.  SAME WOMAN!!  How cool is that?!  :-)  I am going to have to find out more about her.  She might warrant a whole post for herself!

Here is a monument that includes Te Ata, after whom the Te Ata Memorial Auditorium at USAO where she attended school (when it was OCW) is named.  The same auditorium my graduation was in!  :-)
Another interesting fact I encountered while looking at the Hall of Fame info online:  The Oklahoma Heritage Association's bylaws were not changed until 2000 to allow people to be inducted posthumously!!  Isn't that weird?  And since the change, only 4 have been inducted posthumously!  One of the four was Wiley Post.  Now THERE was an interesting character AND he had ties to Chickasha.  It is hard to believe he was not previously inducted.


I leave you today with this slightly amusing picture.  Doesn't it look from that angle like the tram is quite precariously perched?  :-)

Fred, Indian Territory

Fred.  What an original name for a town!  They broke the mold on that one.


I have known Fred existed for some time, of course, having been raised in Ninnekah.  Old Fred Road is right off of Old Hwy 81 and leads to the Muncrief Cemetery (which I desperately need to visit for OST).  I also have known of the historical marker for Fred, Indian Territory, for many years as it is near the abode of my best friend.  I had just never been there.  I know, I know.  But I am sure there are people in Philadelphia who have never been to the Betsy Ross House.  Just think about that for a minute.


The date:  May 15, 2012
My Adventure Partner:  The Un-Adventurous Shawna Dawn
Our Objective:  Get Our Fred On


This wearisome trek through the outskirts of town took a lot of effort.  I actually had to stop the car, get out, and snap a few pics.  :-)  But seriously.  The time had come for me to Get My Fred On.  And Shawna Dawn?  She got her I'm-Staying-In-The-Car-With-The-AC-And-My-Phone-And-Don't-Care-About-Fred On.  Fuddy. Duddy.

Sad, isn't it?  I am finding more and more that historical markers and cemeteries and all the awesomeness that I have set out to chronicle are being worn down by apathy.  So many are faded, beaten, and as in the case of Fred, untended.


I assume that you could get in through the gate if you were so inclined and the weather was cold enough to not have to worry about snakes in the overgrown craziness!  I REALLY want to know what those displayed documents are!  No doubt I will return to Fred when I have time to peruse and at a less convenient time for the serpentine residents of the area.


But what is Fred, you ask?  Prior to working on this post I knew essentially two things about it:  it used to be a town in Oklahoma in part of what is now Ninnekah, and it is the reason behind the name of Old Fred Road.  That is about all I KNEW.  Now.  Let's get educated.


First off check out this awesomeness:

http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v012/v012p447.html

Pretty cool, huh?  I am not really sure just when this map was supposed to be from but it almost certainly was drawn ex post facto as Chickasha was in Indian Territory, not Oklahoma Territory, so prior to statehood there would be no reason for it to be listed next to something saying 'Oklahoma.'  The map is not of post-statehood or Ninnekah should be included.  Or maybe that is just my Ninnekah-centricity speaking.  Ninnekah and Chickasha were both established in 1892 and Ninnekah was initially the largest.  You would think if Chickasha is listed and Ninnekah isn't then Old Fred wouldn't be listed either since with the establishment of Ninnekah and Chickasha it declined in importance.  [For example, one piece of information I have come across says that the Fred Post Office was discontinued in 1894 with the mail for that area being integrated into Chickasha.  Interesting factoid:  That area which is mostly technically in Ninnekah still has Chickasha mail service!]  Of course you have to take into consideration that it is listed as 'Old Fred' rather than 'Fred' indicating it is already a thing of the past.

That was a very convoluted stream of consciousness, but if you follow me you see the bottom line is I don't know what timeframe the map was drawn in or is supposed to represent and I don't like that it left Ninnekah out!  :-)

Back to Fred.  This marker gives us the basics.  We see that Fred was a trading post established by Colonel Frank Fred in the 1870s at the crossroads of the Chisolm Trail and Fort Cobb Stage Road.  What the Ft. Cobb Stage Road is should be self-explanatory though I would like to see if there are other markers regarding that, and if you are not blessed enough to be an Okie and need more information on what on earth the Chisolm Trail is, look here.  No doubt that topic will come up again here at OST.

A lovely article published in The Chronicles of Oklahoma in December of 1934 gives us some insight about Fred.  It was written by a professor at the Oklahoma College For Women.  Oh, I'm sorry.  You could sense the overabundance of excitement oozing from that last sentence, couldn't you?  I will contain myself.  We shall cover OCW at length another time.

So the article.  The best part about it?  This statement:  

One of the old buildings still stands; the grave yard not far away and traces of the old stage coach stand are all silent reminders of the past.  

Fred was ESTABLISHED in the 1870s - this was WRITTEN in 1934!!  Half again as many years have passed since that article was written!!  Love it.  I also enjoy where she calls State Highway 19 (or whatever was in its place at the time) the "Alex, Lindsay, Pauls Valley Road."  :-)  I will have to look into just how long Highway 19 has been Highway 19.

What I would like to know and intend to try to find out when I do visit Muncrief Cemetery (anyone want to be my adventure partner?  :-) ) is if that pile of rock and stone over the hill from the cemetery that was the stage stand is still there.  Wouldn't that be something?!  It might even be worth traipsing through snake infested weeds to get to!

Another tidbit of note is that the reason Fred is where it is (aside from the crossroads aspect) is because there is a section of the Washita River that has a rock bottom and that is where they would move the cattle through on the Chisolm Trail.  Who knew?  Not that it is surprising.  Just as the Egyptians' lives were built around the Nile so it is with we Grady Countians and the Washita - and in the case of those fortunate enough to hail from Ninnekah, the Little Washita.  Yes, we will have to go more in depth on both rivers soon!!  :-)

I have found a couple more sources regarding Fred, but we will wait for another installment after I have more information on those darn documents and what-not.  We have the basics down.  Next time we dig in.

Tony K. Burris - Medal of Honor

I love Blanchard!!  I did half of my student teaching at the middle school in the Spring of 2007 and often wish I could have gotten hired on there.  From June 2007 - July 2009 I worked in Norman which meant I would drive through Blanchard twice a day during my commuting.  Their Subway is the cutest thing ever and I don't even mind the massive speed trap so much.

I have often noticed a statue off to the North of Highway 62 right there in the heart of Blanchard.  I just never spent much time wondering what it was all about.  On Saturday, March 31, Rick and I were on our way back from a shopping excursion at Home Depot in Norman (which sounds more exciting than it is - we were buying a new toilet! :-))   We already had a full day of getting SICK deals at some yard sales and winning in the largest lottery jackpot in history.  Unfortunately we did not score the $640 million or whatever it got to, but we did manage to score $21!  So at this point we are headed home from Norman and curiosity got the better of me.  After all, we were not in a hurry and I always need fodder for 'On Sooner Trails!'  So I tell Rick to turn at the light and park over by the statue.  I don't mind looking like a dumb tourist!  We get out and walk to the statue and lo and behold it is honoring a Medal of Honor recipient!!  I had no idea!  But not only is it a memorial honoring a Medal of Honor recipient, it is a name I know!  The Army Reserve Center in Chickasha (the same one I drove through a roadblock at on 9/11 - but then that is another story) is named after Tony K. Burris.  I just had no clue who he was before.  It is sad sometimes the stuff you miss that is right in front of you!


The memorial itself has Sergeant Burris charging a hill or something of the sort and underneath are plaques transcribed with the MOH citation, a letter he sent home, and the telegram to his family from the Army at his death.  According to what I have read online the memorial was dedicated in September of 2007 with General Tommy Franks as the keynote speaker.  Sergeant Burris is also buried in his hometown of Blanchard so when I do get around to the Blanchard Cemetery I will have to check that out! 

This is what the plaque with the MOH citation says: 

Congressional Medal of Honor

Sergeant First Class Tony K. Burris, USA

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy:
Sergeant Burris, Infantry, United States Army, a member of Company L, 38^th Infantry Regiment, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in the vicinity of Mundung-ni, Korea, on 8 and 9 October, 1951.  On 8 October, when his company encountered intense fire from an entrenched hostile force, Sergeant First Class Burris charged forward alone, throwing grenades into the position and destroying approximately fifteen of the enemy.  On the following day, spearheading a renewed assault on enemy positions on the next ridge, he was wounded by machine gun fire but continued the assault, reaching the crest of the ridge ahead of his unit and sustaining a second wound.  Calling for a 57mm recoilless rifle team, he deliberately exposed himself to draw hostile fire and reveal the enemy position.  The enemy machine gun emplacement was destroyed.  The company then moved forward and prepared to assault other positions on the ridge line.  Sergeant First Class Burris, refusing evacuation and submitting only to emergency treatment, joined the unit in its renewed attack but fire from hostile emplacements halted the advance.  Sergeant First Class Burris rose to his feet, charged forward and destroyed the first emplacement with its heavy machine gun and crew of six men.  Moving out to the next emplacement, and throwing his last grenade which destroyed this position, he fell mortally wounded by enemy fire.   Inspired by his consummate gallantry, his comrades renewed a spirited assault which overran enemy positions and secured Hill 605, a strategic position in the battle for “Heartbreak Ridge.”  Sergeant First Class Burris’ indomitable fighting spirit, outstanding heroism, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest glory upon himself, the Infantry, and the United States Army.

Now how cool is that?!  And during the Korean Conflict no less.  The Korean Conflict doesn't get as much attention as other military engagements.  Unless you count M*A*S*H of course.  :-)

To complete our mini adventure Rick got a picture of me with Sergeant Burris after I had taken several pics of the memorial. We then got back on the road and headed toward home!

There is some interesting info on the poorly named Congressional Medal of Honor Society website.  It seems there were 144 MOH recipients to come out of the Korean Conflict, 24 of which are still living.  I suppose it would be reasonable to double-check the information with other sources considering they call it the 'Congressional' MOH and the 'Korean War.'   I know, I know.  That's somewhat debatable.  But seriously - CONGRESS has to declare war for it to be officially 'war' for America.  Even though it was my favorite president who made the declaration that got us officially involved it still doesn't count.

I also learned that since 1863 there have been 3,458 MOH recipients most recently in September 2009 to a Marine in Afghanistan.  Oddly enough, the only woman to receive one was in the Civil War!  There has been only one Coast Guard recipient and 19 double recipients!! (Note the appropriately placed exclamation points. :-))

Another interesting factoid:  there are 3 MOH designs currently in use!  There is one for the Army, one for Navy/Marine Corps/Coast Guard and one for the Air Force.  I did not realize there were different designs used at the same time!  Personally I think that the Air Force should still use the Army one, but they haven't consulted me.  :-)

Anyway, check out the CMOHS website.  The MOH citations are especially interesting reads.

Labor Day Adventures

I am FINALLY updating my blog with my Labor Day Adventures!  Well, mine and Hope Marie's!  I was off work and decided it was a good day to get some more work done on the Laverty Cemetery.  Hope Marie was my unwitting accomplice!  She actually agreed to go before she knew why on third earth I called her and asked her to go to a cemetery with me.  Hhmmm...
Anyway, we made a day of it.  We started out with some yummy fuel from Long John Silver's and then headed out to Norge.  We had to stop and get some pictures for my first Historical Marker for the blog!!

Pretty cool, huh?  It is surprisingly lacking in details though!
We then continued down the road for my Laverty Cemetery trip numero dos.  I had hoped to finish up the pics of the cemetery, but alas, despite the fact that it was much cooler than it had been, it was still quite warm and Hope wasn't up to hanging out in it for very long. 

We got quite a few pics in and then ended our adventure for the day.  I have yet to upload the pics to FindAGrave (I know, Slacker!!).  Maybe the next trip out there I will complete the circuit of the cemetery.